Efforts for the Protection of the Interests of the Moldavian Csángó
after 1989
BACKGROUND
The intelligentsia of the Carpathian basin discovered the communities of
Moldavian Hungarians living outside the border at the end of the 18th century.
During the 19th century, in parallel with the development of the Hungarian
nation as a third estate concept, and its culture;
this interest heightened, and a number of modest efforts were taken for the
protection of the interests of the Moldavian Csángó.
In 1861 a group of religious and secular intellectuals formed the St. Ladislaus Society whose main purpose was to tend to the religion,
culture, and education of Hungarian com- munities
detached from the country. In 1867, the society set up a Permanent Csángó Committee and dispatched special commissioners to Moldavia.1
From 1920 onwards, the Moldavian Csángó and the
Hungarians of Transylvania lived in a single country – Greater Romania. Since
World War I brought about grim battles between the Romanian and the Austro-Hungarian
troops in the region inhabited by the Csángó-Hungarians,
the central Romanian authorities and the local ad- ministration pursued a
deliberate and intolerant policy of assimilation between the two world wars.
Such intolerance towards the Moldavian-Hungarian communities and the deprivation
of their civil rights further increased when Northern Transylvania was attached
to Hungary in 1940. Between the two world wars ethnographers were the primary
source of information for the general public as to the fate of the Moldavian
Csángó.
The communist authorities of Romania temporarily tolerated the Hungarian
Folk Alliance to build and operate a network of Hungarian schools in Moldavia
for a couple of years after World War II. During this period Hungarian linguists
and ethnographers from Kolozsvár (Cluj)
conducted widespread studies of the dialects, folklore and ethnography of
the Moldavian-Hungarian communities. Following the Hungarian Revolution of
1956, however, the openly nationalist Romanian communist leadership curbed
all efforts for the protection of interests: mother-tongue instruction classes
were quickly dissolved and the expulsion of the Hungarian language from religious
and ecclesiastical life was openly supported.
During the last decade of Ceauşescu's dictatorship,
the mere word `Csángó' counted as a taboo in Hungarian
newspapers and other publications, while the ultra-nationalist and totalitarian
authorities did all they could to sever any connections between Moldavian
and Transylvanian Hungarians. Ethnographers visiting Csángó
villages were intimidated and plagued with police raids, as were the residents
who provided them with lodgings.
The unresolved educational and cultural problems and the protection of the
inter- ests of the Moldavian-Hungarian communities
once again came to the surface in the years following the 1989 political transformation
in Romania. The resolution of these problems has since been looked upon as
the benchmark of the democratization and modernization of political life.
Over the course of the past fourteen years the Csángó
problem has outgrown the confines of the dialogues of the Hungarian and Romanian
elites, as European institutions for the protection of minorities have also
begun to take notice of this exceptional Moldavian ethnic, linguistic, cultural
and religious community.
INSTITUTION BUILDING
As the democratization of political and social life in Romania after 1990
developed rather slowly, the protection of the interests of the Moldavian
Hungarian-Csángó community also had to face many
obstacles and much opposition. Hostility and intolerance towards minorities,
elevated to the level of state policy and party line during the reign of Nicolae
Ceauşescu (1965-1989), brought about distortions
of public consciousness on such massive scale as to hinder and corrupt the
effective protection of Romanian national and ethnic minorities even after
1989.
Even though the rapid self-organization of domestic national minorities came
as a relative surprise to the majority population, the most important ethnic
institutions came to life among the Csángó-Hungarians
in Moldavia too, urging the introduction of Hungarian language school-education
and church liturgy, and the natural development and practice of Hungarian
cultural heritage with increasing resolution.
Given that a Hungarian-speaking intelligentsia of their own could not evolve
in the catholic villages of Moldavia, it was primarily those who settled in
Transylvania that promoted the protection of the Moldavian Csángó-Hungarian culture and dialect, arguing for the necessity
and pan-European significance of its preservation. On 25th March 1990 the
members of the Hungarian Csángó with expressive
Hungarian consciousness decided to establish their own independent self-interest
organization. The committee selected by the initiators of the organization
prepared the organization's by-laws and program and, on 20th October 1990,
the delegates founded the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians
in Moldavia (Asociatia Maghiarilor
Ceangai din Moldavia) in the Kovászna
(Covasna) County Library in Sepsiszentgyörgy
(Sfântu Gheorghe). The
Alliance was officially registered with the Covasna
County Court in 1991. The basic aim of the Alliance is to
protect and represent the interests of the Moldavian Csángó-Hun-
garians and to preserve and hand down the traditional,
Hungarian-language based culture. In 1995 the Alliance
serving the protection of the interests of the members of the Csángó community with Hungarian consciousness became an associate
member of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania. In 1997 the organization
trans- ferred its seat to Gyimesbükk (Făget) and, soon afterwards,
moved to the city of Bákó (Bacau) where maintains an information bureau to date.
Since the early 1990s, the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians
in Moldavia has steadfastly maintained the demand that, in accordance with
the effective Act on Public Education in Romania, those children,
whose parents so request in writing, be allowed to receive Hungarian language,
literature and culture education at school in the Moldavian Csángó
villages. Hungarian-language church service has also been re- quested for
those citizens who expressly accept their Hungarian identity. The Alliance
organizes several events to further personal contact and cultural connections
between the Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin and Moldavia.
On commission by the Romanian Hungarian Democratic Alliance's committee responsible
for ethnic remnants, the editorial board of the daily newspaper, Háromszék,
in Sepsiszentgyörgy (Sfântu Gheorghe) began to publish the Romanian and Hungarian language
periodical Csángó Gazette (Gazeta Ceangailor din Moldavia)
in March 1990, initially as a monthly. Between 1992 and 1998, the Alliance
published this periodical under the title ,,Moldavian
Hungarians" at irregular intervals. Under duress, the periodical
was forced to stop publication for a brief period of time from 1998, then
resumed operation in January 2000 as a regular monthly, published by Hargita Publishers, founded by the Székelyföld
Foundation in Csíkszereda (Miercurea
Ciuc).
In the years following Romania's change of political regimes in 1989, several
civil initiatives attended to the task of the native language instruction
of children living in Moldavian Csángó villages.
The Pál Péter Domokos Foundation was officially registered in Csíkszereda (Miercurea Ciuc) on 4th December 1992. Its president, teacher Erzsébet Borbáth has been organizing
the Hungarian language instruction and boarding of Csángó children and distribution of scholarships among them
in Csíkszereda (Miercurea
Ciuc) and various Transylvanian cities for over a decade.
The Pál Péter Domokos Student Alliance (Budapest) is the institution responsible
for the protection of the interests of high school and university students
studying here. With the help of the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service, a Csángó
Information Office and library were opened in 2002. Thanks to the support
extended by the Hungarian Ministry of Education, ten young Csángó
people can start their studies in various Hungarian universities and colleges
each year.
In the ten years following the change of regime, beside Hungarian NGO's,
the officials of the Hungarian government also began take part in resolving
the problems and promoting the interests of the Hungarian-speaking population
in Moldavia. For ex- ample, in the city of Jászberény,
situated between the Danube and Tisza rivers, a
Csángó folklore festival and camp has been organized annually
since 1990, and has gradually become a meeting point for threatened minorities
in Europe in recent years. Since 1997 Budapest has hosted a Csángó ball and exhibition during the carnival period each
year. The Demeter Lakatos Society has been active
in Hungary since 1990, coordinating basic studies on Csángó
history, folk culture and cultural life in a manner similar to that of the
St. Ladislaus Society, established in the 19th century. The Society
undertakes the representation of the universal values of the Csángó cultural heritage through conferences, publications
and exhibitions. The Eger-based János
Ince Petrás Cultural Society
organizes summer camps in Hungary for Moldavian Csángó
schoolchildren. On November 8th 2003, the anniversary of the 190th birthday
of János Incze Petrás,
the famous Moldavian priest and folk poetry collector, a plaque designed by
sculptor and photographer Gergely Csoma
was installed at the Roman Catholic College of Theology in Eger.
András Duma, leader of
the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia in
the village of Klézse (Cleja), who faithfully championed the cause of language instruction
in the local school during the decade following the 1989 political
transformation in Romania, launched the periodical, ,,About Us", (Mi magunkról
/ Noi despre Noi) in 1997, which became the official publication of the
Szeret-Klézse Foundation 1999. Among the primary goals of
the Klézse (Cleja) institution
is to cultivate the Hungarian identity of children in the village, as well
as to hand down Hungarian culture to the coming generations. In 1999 the foundation
set out to acquire, extend and outfit a piece of property to host native language
and cultural programs for schoolchildren and adults, similarly to the so-called
,,telehouses" operating in the Carpathian
Basin.
In 1996 Csángó young people launched the Via
Spei Csángó Youth Organization,
officially registered in 1999. The organization's primary goal in Moldavia
(e.g. in the villages of Klézse/Cleja, Forrófalva/Faraoani,
Pusztina/Pustiana, Újfalu/Satu
Nou, etc.) is to organize native language instruction
and to strengthen the Hungarian identity among Csángó
youth. Numerous camps, seminars and professional field trips were organized
in Moldavia and Transylvania, where young people could acquaint themselves
with the European values of the Csángó and Hungarian
cultures. The St. Stephen Society, launched by Tinka
Nyisztor has been operative in Pusztina
(Pustiana) for three years, primarily working for
the introduction of the Hungarian church liturgy; but also attaching significant
importance to the organization of cultural life generally on the basis of
native folklore and culture.
Those who graduated from universities and colleges in Hungary or Transylvania
after the 1989 political transformation have gradually begun to return to
Moldavian Csángó villages. Independently from the
ruling majority, these young people have initiated and organized programs
directed at the survival and dissemination of local traditions. For example,
camps and festivals were organized in Külsőrekecsin (Fundu Răcăciuni) and Somoska (Somusca) for young people from Romania, Hungary and other
foreign countries wishing to experience the archaic treasures of Csángó folklore on site, such as classical folk ballads, lyrical
songs, folk music and dance, as well as textile design. In Pusztina (Pustiana), village celebrations
are organized, where locals may learn not only about their own heritage but
also about the European cultural treasures of Hungarian communities living
in the Carpathian Basin.
November 2003 witnessed another important turn of events in the lives of
the Moldavian Csángó-Hungarians when modest steps
were taken to develop the political representation of their interests. Although
the Romanian Hungarian Democratic Alliance already had members in 42 Moldavian
settlements, its independent local organizations first emerged in Szucsáva
(Suceava), followed by Klézse
(Cleja), Pusztina (Pustiana),
Külsőrekecsin (Fundu Răcăciuni) and Lujzikalagor (Luizi-Călugăra). Following the general assembly of the Alliance
of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia in Bákó (Bacau) on 8th November 2003,
the majority of the participants decided to form the Romanian Hungarian Democratic
Alliance's local organization in Bákó (Bacau) County. At the inaugural meeting, high-ranking representatives
of the RMDSZ (Romanian Hungarian Democratic Alliance) were also present, for
example vice-presidents Gyula Szép, responsible for cultural affairs, and Bálint Porcshalmi, responsible for
youth affairs. The 24 th
regional organization of RMDSZ decided to achieve that the Moldavian Csángó-Hungarians be represented in the Romanian administration
in proportion to their size after the 2004 local self-government elections.
INITIATIVES FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF MOTHER-TONGUE EDUCATION
IN SCHOOLS
After the 1989 events in Romania, many Csángó residents
living in Moldavia felt that the process of establishing local democratic
institutions has once again opened up the opportunity to start native language
instruction in schools (similarly to the practice between 1945 and 1958).
In many Csángó villages – such as Szabófalva (Săbăoani), Lészped (Lespezi), Pusztina (Pustiana), Klézsa (Cleja) and Gyoszén (Giosen) – private individuals
with stronger Hungarian identity (e.g. teachers, workers, farmers, etc.) offered
their own homes to organize mother-tongue education for children on the weekends.
The authorities, however, quickly put an end to these humble extracurricular
endeavors. In one instance, Mihály Perka, history teacher from Szabófalva
(Săbăoani), organized a language group that was
deemed illegal and anti-constitutional. Further classes were prohibited and
participants were constantly harassed and intimidated. In the village of Lészped (Lespezi) near Bákó (Bacau), workers and farmers
organized some Hungarian language instruction for the local children. Their activities were constantly harassed by the local and county
police that quickly made it impossible for them to carry on with their
activities. For example, the local press started slandering them, police summons
were issued and verbal abuse was used to intimidate the organizers and parents
to the point where further initiatives quietly came to an end.
The political elite striving for the quick and violent assimilation of the
Csángó populace was unwilling, even after 1989,
to accept the existence of an ethno-cultural and denominational minority living
in Moldavia, whose basic rights include the institutional and communal usage
of their mother tongue in church and school life.
Since the powers-that-be used a wide variety of tools to stomp grassroot
initiatives, on 25th April 1995 the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians
in Moldavia organized a larger conference in Klézse
(Cleja) to begin the organization of the institutional
mothertongue education and cultural life. The organizers
invited the acting president of RMDSZ and the vice-president responsible for
cultural and religious affairs. Extremist political groups in Bákó
(Bacau) County and the leaders of the local Roman Catholic
Church decided to use all means to prevent the conference of Hungarian delegates.
For example, the priests began to circulate rumors that activists of RMDSZ
intend to convert the Csángó people to Protestantism.
To prevent Hungarian language instruction, the principal of the local school
even mobilized a group of children. The misguided and intoxicated mob of people
stopped the cars of the arriving delegates and guests at the village entrance,
used physical and verbal abuse against them, destroyed the Hungarian Alliance's
video equipment and burnt the Hungarian language textbooks they found in the
cars.
After the 1996 elections in Romania, the former democratic opposition and
the RMDSZ formed a coalition government. Shortly afterwards, Andrei Marga, rector of the Babes-Bolyai
University in Kolozsvár (Cluj),
became the head of the ministry of education. In this new political situation,
the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia attempted
to introduce the instruction of Hungarian language and culture as a non-compulsory
subject in the public school system in Csángó villages upon request by the parents – something that
is clearly allowed and provided for by government order no. 3113/2000, issued
by the Romanian Ministry of Education. According to the government
order, formulated by József Kötő, the ministry's state secretary, effective as 31st
January 2000, not only the parents, but the individual federations of the
minorities may request the introduction of non-compulsory mother-tongue education
in public schools.
In September of 2000, seven parents in Lészped
(Lespezi), twenty-eight parents in Pusztina (Pustiana) and twenty-five
parents in Klézse (Cleja)
officially asked for the introduction of a Hungarian language program in their
children's schools. As the school principal of Pusztina
(Pustiana) refused to accept their joint petition,
the parents repeated their request individually. The school commissioner of
Bákó (Bacau) County deemed the above
mentioned government order to be mistaken, as its application would open the
path to the education of the Hungarian language in Moldavia, therefore he
declared that he would never support or respect such an order.
On 14th September an atmosphere close to civil war exploded in Klézse
(Cleja) when a joint committee of experts consisting
of the Hungarian alderman of the Ministry of Education (Attila Sántha),
the assistant school commissioner of Bákó (Bacau)
County and representatives of the county prefecture and the Ministry for the
Protection of Minorities began investigations among the individuals requesting
Hungarian language education. While the parents all reinforced their previous
requests, the local mayor, the Roman Catholic parish priest and leaders of
political extremist groups intoxicated and riled up a gang of 20-25 local
men to verbally and physically intimidate the parents, thus preventing the
introduction of Hungarian language instruction in the school system. Despite
this violent atmosphere, out of the thirty petitioners in Klézse
(Cleja), thirteen parents reinforced their appeal
before the committee. In Pusztina (Pustiana), nine out of the original seventeen stepped before
the committee and in Lészped (Lespezi) only one out of nine petitioners upheld his request.
Finally, the joint committee concluded that there is indeed a realistic demand
for Hungarian education in Moldavia; the minutes were signed
by the representative of the prefecture and the school commission too.
In connection with these events, Gabriel Andreescu,
the Romanian president of the Helsinki Committee, announced at a press conference
held on 22nd September 2000 that a comprehensive report would be prepared
about the situation of the Csángó people, on the
basis of which the Council of Europe will launch on-site investigations. The
representative of the Human Rights Committee felt that this event was important
also because it gave the Romanian Ministry of Education and the Minority Affairs
Office a chance to inform the public about the situation in Moldavia.
On 24th September 2000, Andrei Marga, Romanian minister of education announced that all necessary
conditions were in place for the ministry to permit the instruction of the
Hungarian language in Bákó (Bacau) County. The Romanian media quickly staged a vehement
counterattack and declared that the Minister had irresponsibly succumbed to
Hungarian propaganda when issued government order no. 3113, permitting all
minorities in Romania to conduct instruction in their native tongue. Bákó (Bacau) County's prefecture
warned the Romanian prime minister in writing that the introduction of Hungarian
language instruction in schools would cause unnecessary ethnic conflicts in
the region. The next day, the head of the Romanian Ministry of Education declared
that the parents' petition had to be examined by the county school commission
as well.
Meanwhile, the Bákó (Bacau) County school commission reexamined the petitions submitted
by the parents in Klézse (Cleja) requesting that their children be allowed to
attend Hungarian language classes
in their village. The director of the County Hall tried to convince parents
in Klézse (Cleja) and
Pusztina (Pustiana) to
permanently withdraw their previous petitions. Finally, as a result of more
effective scare tactics, a significant number of intimidated parents withdrew
their signature. Soon the officials had 598 individuals in Klézse
(Cleja) sign a statement to the effect that the
request for the introduction of Hungarian instruction in local schools is
unfounded since the Csángó people unanimously consider
themselves Romanian. The document was also forwarded to Emil Constantinescu,
and the prime minister was asked to take measures to ensure that only the
official language would be used in schools and churches; namely, Romanian
would be the language of instruction and that of church ceremony. Zsolt Szilágyi, a representative
of RMDSZ in the Romanian Parliament directed an interpellation towards the
Romanian Prime Minister, in which he demanded an explanation, conformant to
general European standards as well as the effective laws of the land, for
the events in the Moldavian villages. The Prime Minister declined to answer
the MP, instead he passed on the problem to the Ministry of Education
and Public Administration for investigation.
Because of the failure, the leaders of the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia decided at a conference on education
held in Gyimesfelsőlok (Lunca de Sus) that native language
instruction would be started outside of public schools, conducted in private
homes and community halls in the afternoons and on the weekends. In the autumn
of 2000, under the direction of Attila Hegyeli,
a recent graduate of Hungarian and Ethnography the first classes began for
the local children at the Szeret-Klézse Foundation
Center. Since the interest in the afternoon classes consisting of cultural,
linguistic and information technology instruction was relatively large among
the children, also their parents quickly began to participate in this alternative
educational model. The administrative and professional management of the program
organized by the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in
Moldavia was provided by the Association of Hungarian Educators in Romania,
and enjoyed the financial support of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage in
Budapest. This teaching format continued in Klézse
(Cleja) in the fall of 2001 and simultaneously began in Somoska (Somusca), Pusztina (Pustiana), Trunk (Galbeni), Külsőrekecsin (Fundu Răcăciuni) and Gyoszén (Giosen).
On 14th November 2001, when the Committee of Ministers of the Council of
Europe formulated its position regarding the Csángós,
the authorities of Bákó (Bacau)
County employed harsh devices against Hungarian language instruction in villages.
Taking part in the intimidation tactics were the county's Head School Commissioner,
several school inspectors, the Mayor and Assistant Mayor of Klézse (Cleja), the local police
chief and the township's various school principals. Those families in Klézse (Cleja) who opened their
homes to education and who gave lodgings to Transylvanian teachers were all
sent police summons and were threatened with raids and fines. The head School
Commissioner threatened them with saying that if they found the local education
to be inadequate for them, they should move to Hungary. The following day
the commission appeared in Pusztina (Pustiana)
where they inspected the home of Jenő Bilibók, where classes were often held. Although the young
teacher was not at home at the time, the visitors confiscated several Hungarian
books. Soon enough, the police visited and harassed the parents of the teachers
living in Transylvania who took part in the Hungarian language instruction
programs.
While the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a communication to
the public stating that the Ministerial Committee of the Council
of Europe had adopted the Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1521 (2001)
on the protection of the Csángó culture in Romania
on 14th November in Strasbourg, the cabinet-head of the Bákó (Bacau) County prefect also
made a visit to Klézse (Cleja)
on 16th November. There he inspected the private premises where the extracurricular
mother-tongue instruction had taken place, with special attention to the textbooks
used by the Transylvanian teachers. While asking for operating licenses and
health permits, several history books printed in Hungary were removed from
the private homes.
Upon the written request of the Prefecture, the Bákó (Bacau) County Department of
Health visited Klézse (Cleja)
on 19th November 2001 to inspect the premises of the Hungarian afternoon classes.
Here they concluded that neither the Hungarian community hall, nor the private
homes meet the health requirements provided for by law and therefore must
be temporarily shut down; no more instruction could take place there until
further notice. It is interesting to note that in the meantime, not one single
public school out of the 223 in Bákó (Bacau) County had a health permit, yet none were forced to
close down. At the same time, severe fines were levied on places where Hungarian
instruction was being conducted if those locations did not meet health and
furnishing requirements. On 21st November the County's Romanian newspaper
stated that the investigation requested by the school principals of Klézse (Cleja) had been completed.
This gesture made it obvious that the required health permits were just a
pretext for the authorities to stomp the afternoon and weekend native language
classes for the Csángó children of Klézse (Cleja).
On November 29th, the leader of the Hungarian language instruction program
and the vice-president of the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia were summoned to the office
of the Bákó (Bacau) County
School Commissioner. There they presented to the authorities the 32 applications
submitted by the parents to allow their children to have afternoon Hungarian
language instruction in their public schools. Finally, the head commissioner,
under whose leadership the investigation committee operated, came to the decision
that the program leaders were only responsible for neglecting to obtain the
proper permits.
Under written request from the Bákó (Bacau)
County School Commissioner's Office, on 7th December the Klézse
(Cleja) police once more summoned the Csángó
children's Hungarian teachers as well as the individuals providing their lodgings
to appear at the police station. During the examinations that were quite hostile
in their atmosphere, the officials were primarily concerned with whether or
not the organizers of the afternoon classes were residing legally in the settlement.
Native language instruction and activities continued quietly even after the
terror tactics exercised against them; finally the leaders of the Alliance
of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia decided that they
would obtain all the official permits necessary to legally continue their
educational efforts. Meantime, the County's school commissioners in Bákó (Bacau) initiated legal proceedings
against the Szeret-Klézse Foundation in order to
halt illegal native language instruction and to put an end to the Foundation's
activities. The Bákó (Bacau) County school commissioners initiated similar legal
proceedings in Kovászna (Covasna)
County against the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians
in Moldavia, alleging that the representative institution had organized mother
tongue education for Csángó children illegally.
The Romanian Social Democratic Party, the governing party since 2000, intends
to integrate Romania into security and political structures of Western Europe
as rapidly as possible. Spectacular results in the field of
foreign policy, however, would require thorough and consistent compliance
with the expectations of Western European institutions in the field of the
protection of minorities. It was for this reason that, in 2002, the ruling
party, together with the RMDSZ (the organization founded in order to protect
the interests of Hungarians in Romania), agreed to set up a jointly appointed
expert committee to look for a solution to assure native language instruction
for the Moldavian Csángós.
On 1st March 2002, the leaders of the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia held a consultation in their
Bákó (Bacau) offices where it was
decided that the petitions submitted by parents for facultative Hungarian
instruction in public schools would henceforth be certified by a notary public.
In the first week of May 2002, a high-ranking group of RMDSZ delegates led
by Béla Markó, President
of the RMDSZ, visited the villages inhabited by the Csángós in order to take inventory of the problems of the
Csángó-Hungarian communities and to find solutions. Many citizens
of the neighboring Csángó villages conscious of
their Hungarian identity came to the forum organized at the Szeret-Klézse Foundation's headquarters, a lot of them inquiring
about the possibilities of boosting the economy of the region. On 2nd May,
the large delegation conducted talks at the Bákó
(Bacau), prefecture about the native language instruction
of the Csángós. In addition, they wished to ensure
the realization of the spirit and principles of the cooperation between the
governing Social Democratic Party and RMDSZ. The negotiations
were attended by the Bákó (Bacau) County Prefect, the head School Commissioner and his
deputy, the general director of the Ministry of Education, and the vice-president
of the governing party. The representatives of RMDSZ demanded that
the county authorities severely punish the teachers who intimidated children
wishing to study Hungarian, too. They requested that the authorities cease
harassing Hungarian organizations and foundations. The negotiating parties
established that in Klézse (Cleja) and Pusztina (Pustiana) a sufficient number of notarized parental signatures
had been collected for the school commission request the Ministry of Education
to approve the introduction of a non-compulsory Hungarian course in public
schools. On 13th June the Ministry of Education approved the notarized applications
of the parents in Pusztina (Pustiana) and Klézse (Cleja) and sent a memo to the office of the Bákó (Bacau) County school commissioner
with instruction to take the necessary steps for the introduction of Hungarian
native language classes in the autumn.
In June 2002, the Bákó (Bacau) court rejected the claim against the Szeret-Klézse Foundation submitted by the school commission
of Bákó (Bacau) County.
The school commission of the Moldavian county had previously accused the Csángó-Hungarian Foundation of illegally instructing the children
of Klézse (Cleja) in Hungarian
and demanded that the court revoke the Foundation's license of operation.
In September 2002, Attila Hegyeli, teacher of Hungarian
and ethnography and Jenő Bilibók, history teacher, could start the native-tongue education
of 17 children in Klézse (Cleja) and 24 children in Pusztina
(Pustiana) in their local public schools. In both
settlements the Hungarian classes had to be held for combined groups from
all forms in the early between 7 and 8 o'clock, twice a week on a regular
basis during the 2002-2003 school year.
Upon the recommendation of the Council of Europe, the School Commission of
Bákó (Bacau) County accepted
an out-of-court settlement with the Szeret-Klézse
Foundation in November 2002. Following more than one year of continuous litigation, a couple of months later, in March 2003, the Brasov Court of Appeal rejected in the final, third instance
the demand of the Bákó (Bacau)
County School Commission to ban the activities of the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia.
In spring 2003, Csángó-Hungarian parents from further
communities submitted notarized applications for
Hungarian education, informing the county and the local education authorities
in advance about the significant number of requests to be submitted. Alarmed
by the great number of applications, the local parish priest of Külsőrekecsin
(Fundu Răcăciuni) delivered
a sermon in which he called Hungarian language instruction a mortal sin. His
intolerant speech was obviously pitted against the establishment of Hungarian
language education as a facultative course in public schools.
Since the Bákó (Bacau) County School Commission had once again begun to play
for time, Béla Markó,
president of RMDSZ visited Bákó (Bacau)
in the beginning of July 2003. He was accompanied by Gyula
Szép, vice-president responsible for culture, Árpád Márton, Member of Parliament
and Laszló Szepessy, head
of the organization's presidential office in Marosvásárhely
(Târgu Mureş). The RMDSZ delegation and the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians
in Moldavia were received at the office of the prefect in Bákó
(Bacau) County by Viorel
Hrebenciuc, Vice-President of Romania's ruling party in Bucharest,
the County Prefect and the head School Commissioner. The half-hour
conference produced a rapid and simple agreement to the effect that based
on petitions presented to the school commission, in addition to the villages
of Klézse (Cleja) and
Pusztina (Pustiana), Frumósza (Frumoasa), Külsőrekecsin (Fundu Răcăciuni), Magyarfalu (Arini), Lészped (Lespezi) and Somoska (Somusca) would also have native language instruction as of
September 2003.
EFFORTS TO ENSURE THE USE OF NATIVE LANGUAGE IN RELIGIOUS LIFE
Following the political changes in Romania in 1989, the Csángós living in Moldavia and conscious of their Hungarian
identity began to increasingly demand native language church service. The
requests submitted for the use of Hungarian liturgy remained unaccepted and
unanswered, the petitioners were intimidated by various means and forced to
retract their requests. In August 1991, a petition with 200 signatures requesting
religious services in their churches in the Hungarian language was submitted.
Grigore Duma, the Secondary
Bishop at the time, stomped the initiative with force.
In 1998, the congregation of Pusztina (Pustiana)
signed a new petition, in which they made it clear that although they are
aware of the ambiguity of their identity and would by no means wish to be
the object of political or ecclesiastical disputes, they would like to remind
authorities that, on the basis of new European laws as well as existing cultural
traditions, they should be allowed to take part in church service conducted
in their mother tongue. They also reminded the clerical authorities that even
on the eve of the 21st century, the only way they could celebrate mass in
Hungarian was secretly in private homes. Furthermore, they stated that their
request for mother tongue mass was not only legal but practicable as well,
especially with respect to the fact that the Polish Catholics in Bucovina
have always had Polish church service. The congregation concluded the letter
by saying that they had no other alternative but to keep praying
to God until his Holiness permits the holy mass to be held in Hungarian in
their churches.
On 23rd February 1998, in Bákó (Bacau) Gabor Dumitru,
assistant Roman Catholic Bishop of Jászvásár (Iasi), and Archdeacon Ştefan Erdes met with the representatives of the Alliance
of Csángó-Hungarians intending to submit to the
archdeacon a petition with 160 signatures from Pusztina
(Pustiana) requesting Hungarian mass in their village.
At the end of the discourse conducted with a rudeness
not worthy of his religious position, the assistant bishop rejected the petition
with the excuse that each individual must make their request separately and
individually. In addition, he questioned the authenticity of the signatures
and insisted that the liturgy be continued in Romanian in the churches under
his jurisdiction. Two weeks later, two church counselors and the parish priest
of Pusztina (Pustiana) visited the petitioners, as did the local priest,
Eugen Diac, a few days
later. As a result of these visits several people revoked their signature
or denied having signed the request. Then, on 18th April 1998, a petition
that was signed by 80 individuals in the presence of the representative of
the church authorities was registered without a reference number. Soon the
people of Pusztina (Pustiana) forwarded their
plea to the papal legate's offices in Bucharest and the Society for the Protection
of Human Rights of Romania (APADORCH).
In a letter dated 20th June 1998, István Gergely,
a Roman Catholic priest serving in Csíksomlyó (Sumuleu-Ciuc) in Transylvania
requested of Petru Gherghel,
the Roman Catholic Bishop of Jászvásár (Iasi), that Hungarian language mass be allowed in the church
in Pusztina (Pustiana).
Three days later Gabor Dumitru,
the Bishop's advisor replied that the ministering of the congregation of the
diocese should be left to them; they also claimed that in the past no complaints
had ever been voiced by the residents of Pusztina
(Pustiana) and that only external provocateurs and
agitators caused trouble in their work. ,,It has
been established through local investigation and research that the language
of liturgy in Moldavia is Romanian, except for a few isolated cases."2
Although the bishop in Jászvásár (Iasi)
did not allow Hungarian language masses to be conducted, the priest in Csíksomlyó (Sumuleu-Cius) celebrated
the mass in Hungarian anyway in a tavern made of planks and rearranged for
the occasion. The diocese Moldavia found this incident to be scandalous and
harshly complained to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia) that
the parish priest belonging to the diocese in Transylvania had rudely insulted
Roman Catholic ecclesiastical law with his Hungarian-language mass.
The Hungarian congregation of Klézse (Cleja)
composed a new letter to the Bishop of Moldavia in 1997 requesting Hungarian
mass. In their application they appealed to the paragraph 1. Article 6. of
the Romanian Constitution which guarantees the right of minorities to preserve,
develop and express their ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity
and traditions. As law-abiding citizens of Romania, they asked the bishop
to allow one mass a week in Hungarian. The Bishop did not even bother to reply
to the congregation.
At the Romanian Roman Catholic Episcopal conference in Kolozsvár (Cluj) in October 2000,
Petru Gherghel claimed
that the collection of signatures among Csángós
was a fraud; in his opinion certain had simply deceived the trusting parishioners.
,,Such endeavors are ridiculous and are not
based on reality. The Moldavian people never asked for the introduction of
mass held in other languages."3 In addition, he called the
mother tongue of the Csángós ,,argot," (i.e. the shameful language of thieves). He
claimed that he had discussed this issue several times with Pope John Paul
II, who left the decision concerning the language of the liturgy up to him.
The Bishop thought it was unfortunate that associations such as the Alliance
of CsángóHungarians in Moldavia which, in
his opinion, did not represent the interests of the Catholic congregations
meddled with the episcopacy's internal affairs.
Even though Jean-Claude Perisset, the Papal Legate
in Szatmárnémeti (Satu Mare), had previously taken a strong stand against the
initiative related to the native language religious life of Csángó-Hungarians,
later, when he visited the Greek Catholic episcopacy of Kolozsvár
(Cluj) in May 2001, he said that he had looked into
the question when visiting Moldavia. The ambassador of the Holy See in Bucharest,
however, was unwilling to comment on the Council of Europe's recommendations
about the Csángó people, since in his opinion the
view on the native language mass for the Csángós
was primarily the task of the European organization.
During his visit to the Vatican on 9th October 2001, Ferenc Mádl, President of the Hungarian
Republic, raised the issue of the request by Moldavian Csángó-Hungarians to be permitted to conduct their religious
life in their mother tongue. During his meeting with Pope John Paul II, the
Holy See indicated for the first time that it was ready to take actual steps
to further the Hungarian religious life of the Csángós
in Moldavia. Petru Gherghel,
the Moldavian Roman Catholic Bishop, commented on the visit to the editor
of the periodical, Krónika:
,,We will not be forced. We are the ones to be consulted concerning
this issue. We will analyze the situation and decide what needs to be done."
In the autumn of 2001, over 300 citizens of Pusztina (Pustiana) professing to
be Hungarians submitted a written requested for the incorporation of Hungarian
language liturgy. The diocese reacted by dispatching a special delegation
to the scene in order to assess the true needs of the people. The delegation
concluded that the petitioners were drunkards, i.e. people whose signatures
need not be taken seriously. In the end, the Csángós
became tired of not receiving genuine answers to their requests, what's more,
they are considered irresponsible and of loose moral character; therefore,
on 12th April 2002, a group of forty citizens traveled to Jászvásár
(Iasi) by bus. Upon their arrival, Aurel Perca, Assistant Bishop received
only four of the delegates, and he called to doubt necessity of celebrating
mass in Hungarian in the churches of Moldavia during the talks. He also said
that the Moldavian Roman Catholic diocese would communicate its standpoint
in writing only when Bishop Petru Gherghel has returned from his trip to Rome. He pointed out
to those present that the Vatican would always first ask the Moldavian Roman
Catholic diocese's opinion concerning any decisions made concerning the Csángós.
In Jászvásár (Iasi),
the Roman Catholic Diocese and Theological Institute established a research
institute (Departamentul Cercetarii
Stiintifice al Episcopiei
Romano-Catolice din Iasi)
to provide scientific evidence to prove that the Moldavian Csángós
were descendants of Transylvanian Romanians. One of the first results was
the 1998 publication of the writing of Ion H.Ciubataru,
director of the Folklore Institute of the Romanian Academy
of Sciences operating in Jászvásár (Iasi),
entitled Catolicii din Moldova, Universul culturii populare. Impressively illustrated and produced with exceptional
printing technology, this album attempts to prove the claim of the Transylvanian
Romanian origins of Catholics in Moldavia using a biased interpretation of
ethnographic data. The second volume was published by Presa
Bună Publishers in Jászvásár
(Iasi) in 2002; this was a research into the important
holidays and transitional rites of the Moldavian Catholics that used methods
similar to those prevalent in the first volume.
The political confusion following the 1989 political transformation led to
an increase of the power, social role and prestige of the Church, especially
in Moldavia. The restoration of the Church also implied that the clergy actively
intervened in the everyday life and private sphere of the people, and achieved
its over-representation in national, political and military programs. After
the political change, Romania cleverly arranged with the Vatican that instead
of Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia), home of the thousand year-old Transylvanian Roman
Catholic pontifical residence, Bucharest, the nation's
capital city became the Episcopal center. Although nearly one-million Roman
Catholic believers live in Transylvania and the Partium,
while their number is less than 300,000 outside the Carpathians, in 1999 the
Holy Father could only visit Bucharest, where believers of the Orthodox faith
form the majority; the Orthodox Church, considering itself to be the national
religion, used all means to make it impossible for the Pope to visit his congregations
in Moldavia or Transylvania. On 9th May 1999, more than 500,000 Christians,
residing in or originating from Moldavia took part in an ecumenical mass held
on the square before the Bucharest palace, the oversized building constructed
according to Ceauşescu's blueprints that had
claimed so many innocent lives. Domestic and international media interpreted
this event to be a symbol of reconciliation of the western Christian Church
and the Orthodox Church. No wonder, therefore, that to date no substantial
answer has been given to the petition requesting permission for the native
language celebration of mass in Moldavia handed to the Holy Father in the
presence of several hundred Moldavian Csángó believers
during his visit to Hungary in 1991. Even after the collapse of communism
in Eastern-Europe, the diplomats of the Holy See still attach greater significance
to the existence of the few hundred-thousand Roman Catholic believers of Romanian
language and identity than to arrest the slow linguistic, national and cultural
assimilation of the Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia.
The last decade witnessed the massive migration of people from Moldavian
Roman Catholic village communities to Hungary, Italy and Spain. The exodus
of migrant workers and consistent demands of the European institutions toward
Romania's minority policies have only brought about modest and sporadic changes
in the region.
József Ababei Tampo,
a divinity student born in Lujzikalagor (Luizi-Calagor),
celebrated his first mass in Budapest on 15th June 2002, where eight priests
from Moldavia also took part; the organizers assumed that the guests arriving
from the Szeret (Siret)
region would recite the liturgy in the Romanian language. In a month's time
the newly ordained priest was able to say a few words in his native language
for the first mass arranged in his hometown. To their great joy, the following
day more than 150 believers with Hungarian identity in Lujzikalagor
(Luizi-Calagor) were able to hear mass held in Hungarian,
celebrated by József Ababei
Tampo, while the sermon was preached by Imre
Kozma, apostolic pronotary,
president of the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service.
In July of 2003, the inhabitants of Lujzikalagor (Luizi-Calagor) could
hear mass held in Hungarian once more, thanks to the initiative of Ágoston Palkó who had completed
his studies in Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia). The church was packed to capacity, primarily with
the young seminarian's relatives, the regular pilgrims from the Pentecostal
parish feast from Csíksomlyó (Sumuleu-Ciuc).
The parish priest, József Salamon
from Gyergyóhodos (Hodosa)
delivered the sermon. A week later Róbert Pogár, who had completed theological studies in Kaposvár, Hungary, had his turn to celebrate mass in Hungarian
in his hometown of Magyarfalu (Arini). Although no bell tolled to call the congregation to
mass and no organ played inside the church, almost two hundred people listened
with devotion and with tears in their eyes to the sermon in their native tongue
and to the Hungarian religious songs leant by the village youth from Gergely Csoma and the elders of
the community. Further celebrations brightened the day with a program given
by dancers and musicians from Somoska (Somusca). The above mentioned Moldavian
Hungarian church services were never accompanied by any trouble or scandal.
In November 2003, Béla Markó, president of the Romanian Hungarian Democratic Alliance,
sent the Pope a letter in which he called attention to the fact that the Council
of Europe Recommendation No 1521 (2001) specifically declares the right of
the Moldavian Csángós to freely use their native
tongue in their schools and religious life. In the same letter he also emphasized
that the Romanian government had also recognized the right of Csángó Hungarians to use their native language by allowing
Hungarian language instruction in a total of seven public schools as of September
2003. Through the mediation of Jacques Santer, the
former president of the European Commission, on 12th November 2003 Pope John
Paul II personally received Tibor Szatmári, the foreign affairs advisor of the RMDSZ. During
the audience Mr. Szatmári delivered Béla Markó's letter to the Holy
Father. Mr. Szatmári called the Pope's attention
to the letter sent by the King St. Stephen Society in Pusztina
(Pustiana); containing the 200 signatures specifically
collected for this occasion along with earlier correspondence between the
Moldavian Csángó Hungarian Alliance and the Roman
Catholic Episcopate in Jászvásár (Iasi), which, to that date, had clearly rejected any dialogue
pertaining to the parishioners of Hungarian identity living in Moldavia. Because
at the time of papal meeting the Romanian-Hungarian politician was not able
to meet with the Holy Apostolic See's foreign minister,
Stephen Biller a member of the European Parliament's
European People's Party group, a party compacting the European Christian-Conservative
Parties, became the envoy who met with Cardinal Jean Luis Tavran,
the Vatican's Minister of Foreign Affairs. Biller
personally delivered a copy of Béla Markó's letter and a copy of
the documentation of the struggles of Csángó Hungarians
to have use of their native language in their religious life.
In November 2003, Tinka Nyisztor, president of the King St. Stephen Society, requested
audience with Jean-Claude Perisset, representative
of the Holy Apostolic See in Bucharest. At the meeting she once again stressed
the demand of the Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia
for religious life in their mother tongue. Attached to the appeal was a copy
of the series of petitions submitted previously. Soon and quite surprisingly,
the papal legate's offices gave a positive reply. On November 25th, a meeting
with the Vatican's ambassador took place in the capital; in an atmosphere
of sincerity the ambassador thanked the society for their ten-year struggle
for the incorporation of native language mass in their churches. At the reception,
Jean-Claude Perisset affirmed that any congregation
consisting of more than fifty believers should not be deprived of their wish for liturgy in their native tongue. The papal legate promised
the five-member Csángó-Hungarian delegation that
his propositions would soon be sent in a letter to Petru
Gherghel, the Roman Catholic Bishop in Jászvásár (Iasi), while a copy would
also be sent to the Vatican.
THE MOLDAVIAN CSÁNGÓ ON THE STAGE OF EUROPEAN AND ROMANIAN POLITICS
Antal Csicsó, president
of the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia,
received an invitation to Brussels in 1997 to address a conference of the
Open Assembly of the Cultures of Europe together with leaders of European
Gypsy minorities. In the heart of united Europe, it came as a surprise to
all to learn that Moldavian Csángós were not allowed
to use their native tongue in schools or in religious liturgy, despite the
fact that Romania was the first to sign the Framework Convention for the Protection
of Minorities in Strasbourg in 1995. At the time of the presentation, Nicola
Girasoli, an Italian diplomat of the Vatican who launched
a foundation for minority research in Brussels called Promoting Studies and
Knowledge of Minority Rights, immediately turned his attention to the tempestuous
fate and unfavorable conditions of the Moldavian Csángó community.
Upon the initiative of Father Girasoli, Valentin
Stan, a Bucharest historian and Renate Weber, a human rights expert, member
of the Romanian Helsinki Committee, prepared an English language study about
the origin, history and present situation of the Moldavian Csángós.
This superficial and biased pamphlet was presented in Budapest in 1998, in
the presence of the President of the Hungarian Republic, the Papal Legate
as well as several politicians and diplomats. At the event, Vilmos
Tánczos, a Kolozsvár (Cluj) university professor, pointed out the inconsistencies
and superficial elements in the publication written by Romanian authors.
In January 1999 the European Union's Committee of the Regions, supported
by the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation, invited the President and Vice-President
of the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia
to a series of events about threatened minorities, where Lord Menuhin declared: ,,Small cultures
must be protected, whether they are sovereign states or minority European
cultures like the Moldavian Csángós, the Bulgarian
Pomaks or the Gypsy ethnic groups whose homes are found in
several European countries." At Brussels event, the values of traditional
Csángó culture were presented through a folk art exhibition,
publications, videos and lectures.
Ms. Tytti Isohookana-Asunmaa,
member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and former Finnish
Minister of Education, made visits to the most significant Moldavian Csángó communities in July 1999. She documented her experiences
and conclusions in a report consisting of eight sections. Ms. IsohookanaAsunmaa emphasized the importance of providing the
Csángós with accurate and comprehensive information
about their basic human rights and urged that their native language be instituted
in schools and church liturgy. The report presented to the
Cultural and Educations Committee of the Council of Europe by the Finnish
rapporteur was vehemently rejected by the committee's
Romanian member and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bucharest. They
both claimed that the report was an integral part of the campaign aiming to ,,Hungarianize" the region
inhabited by the Csángós.
On 15th February 2000, Zsolt Németh,
political state secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accompanied
by József Kötő, the RMDSZ-member state secretary of the Romanian
Ministry of Education, made a tour of the Csángó
settlements; and visited the community center in Klézse
(Cleja) equipped by the Szeret-Klézse
Foundation. During the visit the Hungarian politician stressed that the Hungarian
State will keep close track of and provide support to the efforts of the Moldavian
Csángó-Hungarian community to protect their interests
and preserve their language, culture and identity.
On 19th August 2000 James Rosapepe, the ambassador
of the United States to Bucharest visited the Csángó settlements. The authorities in Bákó
(Bacau) County did everything in their power to
prevent the representatives of the Alliance of CsángóHungarians
in Moldavia from approaching the American diplomat. A ring of manipulated
and aggressive men surrounded the Alliance's representatives and the police
had to intervene to extract them from the mob.
In September 2000, Joao Ary, Portuguese Secretary
of the Committee on Culture, Science and Education of the Council of Europe
visited Moldavia, accompanied by Joseph v. Komlóssy, Vice-President of the Federal Union of European
Ethnic Nations (FUEN). During the course of their visit they met with the
leaders of the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in
Moldavia, agricultural laborers in Pusztina (Pustiana) and Klézse (Cleja) as well as the administrative, political, cultural
and educational leaders of Bákó (Bacau)
County. During the trip Mr. Ary was appalled by
the fact that the local authorities had a total disregard for the laws already
adopted and ratified by Romania, and frequently employ intimidation against
parents and children alike for demanding the use of their native language
in school instruction and church liturgy. The Portuguese expert prepared a
report about his experiences during the visit, which he later submitted to
the Committee on Culture, Science and Education of the Council of Europe.
The Dumitru Mărtinaş
Association was founded in Bákó (Bacau)
on 17th March 2001 in the presence of the leaders of local, county and national
administrative political, cultural, educational and religious institutions.
The founders aggressively urged all present to use every means to prevent
and restrict the Csángó-Hungarians' rights of self-organization,
and profession and institutional practice of their identity. In fact, the
founders were attempting to convey a message to the European institutions
to the effect that demands for native language instruction in schools and
mother-tongue liturgy were unfounded in Moldavia, since the Csángós are Romanian in origin. Since its foundation, the
Association has produced several propagandistic publications of questionable
value and quality, all intended at providing proof of the Romanian origins
of the Csángós.
On 26th April 2001 in Strasbourg, the Committee on Culture, Science and Education
of the Council of Europe adopted Tytti Isohookana-Asunmaa's
draft report about the protection of the Csángó
culture. The report adopted by the Committee also contained ten practical
proposals for the protection of Csángó culture:
1. Parents living in Csángó settlements should
be informed of the Romanian legislation on education and instructions should
be issued on how to apply for its provisions concerning languages;
2. The possibility of mother-tongue education should be ensured in accordance
with the Romanian Constitution and the legislation on education. In the meantime,
classrooms should be made available in local schools and teachers working
in the villages teaching Csángó language should
be paid;
3. There should be an option for Roman Catholic services in
Hungarian in the churches in the Csángó villages
and the possibility for the Csángós to sing the
hymns in their own mother tongue;
4. Csángó associations, such as the Alliance of
Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia (ACHM), should be
officially recognized and included in the list of the Council for National
Minorities. Particular attention should be paid to the correct registration
of the Csángó minority at the next official census;
5. Access to modern mass-media facilities should be promoted. Financial support
should be given to Csángó associations to enable
the issuing of a monthly publication and the functioning of a local radio
station;
6. A local institute should be set up for the promotion of Csángó culture within the context of raising awareness of
and respect for minorities;
7. An information campaign should be launched in Romania concerning the Csángó
culture and the advantages of peaceful co-operation between the majority and
the minorities;
8. An international committee of experts should be established to study the
Csángós;
9. The unique linguistic and ethnographical features of the Csángós should be appropriately recorded;
10. The economic revival of the area should be encouraged, for example, through
the establishment of small and medium enterprises in Csángó villages.
The report adopted by the Committee on Culture, Science and Education of
the Council of Europe made it possible to take the Csángó issue before the Standing Committee. The Romanian party
leader present at the session, notorious for his intolerance and hostility
towards minorities, claimed that Csángós didn't
even exist; and, in a noisy and overbearing manner, he attempted to prevent
the committee from adding the draft report to the agenda.
Romanian MP Gheorghe Prisăcaru soon submitted another report, in which he declared
that in reality the Csángós themselves did not request
native language instruction, and the so-called Csángó
issue was simply a fabrication originating from Hungarian politicians in Transylvania
and Budapest.
On 23rd May 2001in Istanbul, the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted Tytti
Isohookana-Asunmaa Finnish rapporteur's
report Doc. 9078 about the Csángós; and formulated
Recommendation No. 1521 (2001) to the Romanian government, consisting of nine
points:
1. The possibility to be educated in the mother tongue should be ensured
in accordance with the Romanian Constitution and the legislation on education.
In the meantime, classrooms should be made available in local schools and
teachers working in the villages teaching the Csángó language should be paid;
2. Csángó parents should be informed of the Romanian
legislation on education and instructions should be issued on how to apply
for its provisions concerning languages;
3. There should be an option for Roman Catholic services in the Csángó
language in the churches in Csángó villages and the possibility for the Csángós to sing hymns in their mother tongue;
4. All Csángó associations should be officially
recognized and supported. Particular attention should be paid to the correct
registration of the Csángó minority at the next
official census;
5. Access to modern mass media facilities should be promoted.
Financial support should be given to Csángó associations
in accordance with the availability of funds, in order to help them to express
their own identity actively (in particular through the issuing of a monthly
publication and the functioning of a local radio station);
6. Specific programs should be set up for the promotion of Csángó culture in the context of raising awareness of and
respect for minorities. International discussions and seminars of experts
should be organized to study the Csángós;
7. An information campaign should be launched in Romania concerning the Csángó
culture and the advantages of co-operation between the majority and minorities;
8. The unique linguistic and ethnographical features of the Csángós should be appropriately recorded;
9. The economic revival of the area should be encouraged, for example, through
the establishment of small and medium-sized enterprises in Csángó
villages.
Finally, the Romanian representative of the Standing Committee voted in favor
of the above document, welcoming it as it stands to counter the statements
of those who try to make the Csángós appear to be
a unified group of Hungarian origin. The representative also pointed out that
the document suggested native language rather than Hungarian language instruction.
He announced that the Roman Catholic Episcopate operating in Jászvásár
(Iasi) had already set up a research group to establish
the written form (!!) of the Csángó language.
On 14th November 2001, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
issued a statement on the protection of the cultural traditions of Moldavian
Csángós urging support for mother tongue instruction
and ensuring church liturgy in the Csángó language. In addition, the document welcomed the efforts
of the Holy See to provide native parish priests for the Csángó minority communities and to ensure church service in
the native language. According to the document all parents living in the Csángó villages must be provided with all necessary information
regarding their children's education. An appropriate number of native teachers
receiving salaries from the state have to be provided, along with adequate
classrooms. Thus, the executive body of the Strasbourg-based organization
adopted the recommendations the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
had made about the Csángós in June.
In December 2001, representatives of the Romanian Helsinki Human Rights Committee
and the Pro Europa League visited Bákó
(Bacau) County to investigate the grievances reported
by the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in Moldavia.
Following the visit a report was drafted, categorically stating that the Csángó-Hungarians
in Moldavia were targets of premeditated and deliberate assimilation pressure
not only from the part of the local administration and the Ministry of Domestic
Affairs but also from several representatives of the Roman Catholic Church
and the press. The report clearly stated that the community's national minority
status must be recognized, representation must be granted to the community
in the Romanian Parliament and the members of the community must enjoy total
freedom in selecting their identity during the 2002 census.
At the 10th-11th December 2001 Paris meeting of the Committee on Culture,
Science and Education of the Council of Europe, Romanian MP Gheorghe
Prisăcaru, though diplomatically welcoming the recommendation
of the Committee of Ministers adopted in November, categorically rejected
the idea of the assimilation of the Moldavian Csángós
into the Hungarian community and formulated Romania's opinion in a separate
document.
The Pro Minoritate Foundation for
Minorities and the Foundation for the Protection of National and Ethnic Minorities
in Central-Europe organized an international conference in Budapest on 15th
February 2002 about the situation of endangered European minorities. The program
included an address by Tytti Isohookana-Asunmaa, the Finnish representative of the Council
of Europe, about the protection of the Moldavian Csángó
culture. She described how the Council of Europe closely monitors endeavors
to protect the interests of the Moldavian Csángós
along with European Gypsies, Yiddish communities and Aromanian
and Uralic peoples. She emphasized that the archaic culture of the Csángós is of universal value, therefore its protection and
continuation is an important objective.
The 6th Csángó Festival in Budapest on 16th February
2002 included performances by traditional Moldavian groups. The closing
address was delivered by the President of the Hungarian Republic, Ferenc
Mádl, who, as a symbolic gesture, presented Hungarian
Certificate to a young and a senior Csángó-Hungarian
married couple from Pusztina (Pustiana) on the stage.
In March 2002, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted
resolution ResCMN (2002)5
which, although acknowledging Romania's efforts in the field of the protection
of minorities, states clearly and unambiguously that authorities in Bucharest
must take further steps regarding the Csángó issue,
since members of this community do not enjoy the same rights which are guaranteed
to all minority citizens in Romania.
During the official population census in Romania on 18th March 2002, the
survey form contained the word ,,Csángó", too, among the ethnonyms
available to specify the respondents' national affiliation. Before the important
event, Petru Gherghel,
Moldavian Roman Catholic Bishop, by means of a cautiously composed and disguised
circular, gave instructions to manipulate the believers in the freedom of
choice regarding their identity. "Roman Catholic Christians must never
forget that the language they speak is nobody's monopoly, but a gift bestowed
upon them by the Lord as an instrument to be used in order to join with the
community in the celebration of mass, unifying them with those around them,
and making them useful members of society."4 In actual fact,
the Bishop was encouraging believers to profess themselves as Romanians in
the coming census. At a press conference, the National First President of
RMDSZ protested that in Pusztina (Pustiana)
census officials would not properly register the answers of those individuals
who claimed to be Hungarian in nationality and mother tongue.
Thus, in 2002 the events of 1992 repeated themselves, when in Szabófalva
(Săbăoani) the representatives of the Roman Catholic
Bishop and the parish priest pressured the members of the community to claim
themselves to be Romanian and Roman Catholics before the census-takers. A
few days later those believers who said they were Hungarians were intimidated
by threats that conditions similar to those of 1940 would be reinstated, and
Moldavian Hungarians would be stripped of their rights and could be deported.
In March 2002 in Pusztina (Puastiana) there were
heated arguments between the census-takers and the citizens claiming themselves
to be Hungarian in origin and mother tongue, as the former
were unwilling to enter this on the survey forms even if specifically requested.
On 29th April 29 2002 the Romanian Academy organized a seminar entitled The
Cultural Identity of the Moldavian Roman Catholic in the Bucharest
building of the Romanian Parliament with the participation of high-ranking
representatives of the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research (Ministerul
Educatiei si Cercetarii),
the Dumitru Martinas Association
(Asociatia Romano-Catolicilor ,,Dumitru Martinas"), the Research
Institute for the Study of Romanians in Covasna
and Hargita County (Centrul
European de Studii Covasna-Harghita)
and the Roman Catholic Diocese in Jászvásár (Iasi) (Episcopia Romano-Catolica Iasi). The costs of the conference were financed by the Romanian government's
Ministry of Public Information (Ministerul
Informatiilor Publice).
The conference organizers were clearly and deliberately trying to influence
Strasbourg: Romanian ethnographers and historians present at the conference
were trying to establish the Romanian origins of the Moldavian Csángós, and by doing so, intended to achieve a change in
the policy adopted by the Council of Europe. At the same time, conclusions
of survey conducted in Moldavia by the University of Arts and Sciences in
Bucharest and the CURS Public Opinion Research Institute in Moldavia were
made public, which suggested that the majority of Csángós
consider themselves to be of Romanian nationality. Not a single researcher
with an opposing opinion was invited to this private event. Only upon the
insistence of RMDSZ MP's were representatives of the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians
in Moldavia allowed to enter the premises. Lajos Demény, a Bucharest historian
and honorary fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was allowed to deliver
an address of no more than a few words.
As a result of the Council of Europe's firm recommendations, on 4th-5th July
2002 the Romanian Academy and the House of Commons of the Romanian Parliament
organized another ,,scientific" seminar at the
Europa Hotel in Jászvásár
(Iasi) about the origins, language and culture of
the Moldavian Csángós. Tytti
Isohookana-Asunmaa, the rapporteur
of the Council of Europe, and Joao Ary, Secretary
to Committee on Culture, Science and Education of the Council of Europe also
took part in this conference costing more than one-billion lei. The
event was moderated by Mihai Baciu,
the Romanian delegate to the Council of Europe. Romanian president
Ion Iliescu and Nicolae Vacaroiu, President
of the Senate, greeted the participants in a letter. Valer Dorneanu, President of the
House of Commons and Petru Gherghel,
Roman Catholic Bishop in Jászvásár (Iasi) personally expressed their views on the subject matter
of the conference.
The organizers invited over fifteen Romanian participants to speak, while
only three Hungarian speakers were given the opportunity to deliver addresses
(Vilmos Tánczos, professor
at the University of Kolozsvár (Cluj), Lajos Demény,
Bucharest historian and András Bartha,
President of the Alliance of Csángó-Hungarians in
Moldavia). During the heated and aggressive discussions, András
Duma, Tinka Nyisztor, Ferenc Pozsony, Csaba Sógor and Sándor N. Szilágyi could also make brief addresses. Certain Romanian
speakers tried to prove the myth that Moldavian Csángós
were descendants of more or less Hungarianized Romanians
in Transylvania, which originates from the dilettante work of Dumitru Martinaş, using historical,
ethnographic, linguistic, sociological and physical anthropological methods,
the later being reminiscent of fascist times.
Lacking any political responsibility, Gheorghe
Bejan, President of the Dumitru
Martinaş Association was able
to bluntly and openly declare that in his opinion the Council of Europe had
been duped by Hungarian propaganda when drafting and adopting its recommendations
concerning the Csángós. After all, the Csángós are, and have always been Moldavian Roman Catholics, what's more, they are insulted when looked upon
them as Csángós.
Because the organizers considered the Hungarian participants to be a source
of conflict, the presence, opinions and influence of the Hungarian participants
were deliberately confined within a symbolic setting from the outset. At the
end of the seminar, which brought about no rapprochement between the conflicting
views whatsoever, the organizers took the participants to two northern Csángó
villages where, due to the assimilation tactics of the 20th century, the Romanian
language and Romanian identity are prevalent. In Szabófalva
(Săbăoani), anti-terrorist soldiers kept visitors from approaching
the residents dressed in folk costumes. Afterwards the Western European and
Hungarian participants were ushered into an overcrowded Roman Catholic assembly
hall in Szabófalva (Săbăoani) to watch a cultural program reminiscent of the Ceauşescu era's megalomaniac celebrations. While the
crowd and the posters on the wall proclaimed: ,,We
are Romanians!", schoolchildren chanted fascist verses about something
being wrong with the chromosomes of the Csángós.
The organizers of this bloated event were trying to convey a message to the
Council of Europe to the effect that the Csángós
being, after all, Romanian, mother tongue language education and liturgy is
guaranteed for them anyway, therefore the Council's recommendations are redundant.
CONCLUSIONS
The efforts aimed at the protection of rights cited above show that even
at the turn of the 20th century, Romanian authorities have no intention of
reaching a permanent settlement with the minorities. Instead of a ,,social contract" set down and codified in writing,
which provides both parties with rights and responsibilities and which may
be referred to at any time, they prefer unclear, temporary transactional agreements
they can renegotiate or change at any time that are ideal instruments for
blackmail.
Nevertheless, all initiatives to further the protection of the interests
of the Csángós must recognize that over the centuries
Csángó-Hungarians have become an integral part of
the Romanian economic, social and cultural environment in Moldavia. ,,The
goal – the preservation of the Moldavian Csángó
community – cannot be realized with through external methods. Whatever changes
are made can only be positive if the impulse comes from within, from the core."5
In the years following the Romanian changes in 1989, all domestic secular
establishments were swept into crisis: in Moldavia, too, it was only the church
that managed to preserve its social support. In my opinion, it is only the
reassessment of the policies of the Roman Catholic Church towards the Csángós
that could achieve a lasting breakthrough in the preservation of the Hungarian
language in Moldavia.
The preservation of traditional Csángó culture
based on the archaic Hungarian language, however, is not only the task of
Transylvanian and Hungarian intellectuals. The archaic form
of Hungarian spoken in Csángó communities and the
traditional culture there represent a piece of cultural
history that is valuable on a European scale as well.
When there is widespread social cooperation all over the world for the protection
of any and all animal species threatened by extinction, when celebrated Paris
actresses lobby for the fate of stray dogs of Bucharest, then it should certainly
be the task of every European and Romanian intellectual to protect and preserve
the traditional culture of the Csángós, founded on their native language.
1. Hajdú Demeter 1993. 157.
2. ,,În urma cercetărilor şi studiilor făcute s-a hotărât că limba lituurgică
în Moldavia este limba română, afară
de câteva cazuri izolate."
3. Krónika II. (2000). No. 253.
4. "Creştinii catolici nu trebuie
să uite nicicând
că limba pe care o vorbesc nu este un monopol
al numănui, este un instrument
dăruit de Dumnezeu, aşa
încât ei o vor folosi
pe aceea care le este proprie, care le dă satisfacţia participării la celebrările comunitare şi care îi uneşte cu cei din jur şi
îi face utili societăţii." In: Lumina Creştinului
XIII. (2002). 3 (147).
5. Kapaló 1994. 31. 23
